Saturday

We got to host one of our favorite people in the whole world this weekend, David, and his lovely new FIANCE, Deedra. It is so great when someone you really like gets together with someone you like just as much, even though you've only met them a few times. Deedra is warm and funny and down-to-earth, and my children love her already.

The only bad part is they came in on Friday afternoon (while I was working), then we all went to dinner at the Salt Lick. Saturday morning I had to work AGAIN and they left after lunch.

At lunch they asked me about work -- was it OK, did I save lives? Funny, while I was at work my mind was half at home, wishing I could be back there enjoying a lazy morning with all of them. Yes, yes, work was fine, I brushed them off. Then I remembered that people find my work really interesting, and I'd had some interesting cases.

Just before I left, I called some clients with bloodwork results on their 20-year-old cat. She's in kidney failure, but that's stable, except now she has anemia. The kidneys produce a hormone that stimulates the bone marrow to make new red blood cells. When the kidneys fail, they stop making that hormone. There is a synthetic human version of this hormone available - you may have seen the commercials for Procrit - and we can inject cats with this hormone to boost their blood count. I was telling this client they should come in at the beginning of the week to get started on the injections, when she said, "Can I come in now? I'm 5 minutes away." It was about 10 minutes until close, but I said yes. The client, her partner, and cat came in about 12 minutes later and I got them started on reversing her anemia. They were concerned about not doing anything heroic for their very geriatric cat, and I assured them that this would drastically improve the quality of their cat's life, giving her more energy. We'll have to monitor the cat closely for a while - there is a slight risk that the cat can develop antibodies to this hormone, since it is a human one, not a feline one - but other than that its pretty simple. They thanked me profusely as they left.

Earlier, I got to see a young puppy with a broken arm, give it vaccinations and change its cast. I also taught an owner how to do hydrotherapy and rebandage her dog's large wound, since we've been doing it all week but wouldn't be open on Sunday. That and a bunch of vaccinations and well-checks. No aggressive or bitey animals. Not a bad Saturday at all.